erotic affair with her illiterate neighbour as the means of regaining her treasured instrument. Impeccable performances lift this highly charged piece to the realms ofclassic cinema. undoubtedly one of the best ﬁlms of the 90s. Strathclyde: Odeon Ayr.

I The Picture or Dorian Gray (12) (Albert Lewin. US. 1945) Hurd Hatﬁeld. George Sanders. Angela Lansbury. 110 mins. Extremely effective adaptation of Oscar Wilde's story about the soul-selling pact a young Victorian gentleman makes in order to stay beautiful. And. unlike many Ilollywood versions of literary classics. it shows its respect for the original language by packing in a fair amount of Wildean wit. Glasgow: Gl-‘I‘.

I Pulp Fiction ( 18) (Quentin Tarantino. US. 1994) John Travolta. Samuel Jackson. Uma Thurman. Bruce Willis. 150 mitts. Much more ambitious than Reservoir Dugx. the most awaited second feature of the 90s has many scenes that crackle with Tarantino wit. and a few others that fall ﬂat as the writer-director bravely experiments. Interlocking stories in the pulp crime manner concern hitrnen. ailing boxers. gang bosses and their molls. drug fiends. and a-.sorted riff-r'aff. Last year's surprise Cannes Palrne d'Or winner is a trip. all the way. General release.

the housekeeper. ()ne of Merchant-Ivory's best. with Hopkins the epitome of English emotional repression. Glasgow: MGM Par'khead.

I Reservoir Dogs ( 18) (Quentin Tarantino. US. 1992) Harvey Keitel. Tim Roth. Michael Madsen. 100 mins. A gang of hoods. known only to each other by colour-coded nicknames. meets at an abandoned warehouse to figure how out their rigorously planned heist went so drastically wrong. The best debut in years from writer-director 'l‘arantino. whose stylish violence seduces the audience into complicity. Brilliant in every sense of the word. Glasgow: Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon. Strathclyde: Cannon. Magnum.

- this comic strip turned movie has enough knockabout mayhem to keep the kids happy. Culkin is more confident and appealing than in his some of his other work. but it's Hyde's sarcastic butler who brings a better comic touch to the proceedings. General release.

I The lliver Wild ( 15) (Curtis Hanson. US. 1994) Meryl Streep. Kevin Bacon. David Strathairn. 108 mins. While on a rafting holiday with her husband and son. former river navigator Gail (Streep) finds her trip disrupted by a couple of armed robbers who force her to take them all through dangerous waters. The actors add a realistic dimension to the characters. but otherwise Hanson's outdoor sUspense thriller is less a white water rollercoaster and more an acquatic log-ride. Central: MacRobert. Fife: Adam Smith.

I Bob 1101 (15) (Michael Caton-Jones. US/UK. 1995) Liam Neeson. Jessica Lange. Tim Roth. 130 mins. When he is betrayed by the Marquis of Montrose (John Hurt) and a maliciously psychopathic Englishman (Roth). Rob Roy MacGregor is determined to win back the honour of his name. Alan Sharp's script is rich. witty and literate; Caton-Jones's direction injects a little action. but doesn't pander to Hollywood: and all the performances are wonderful. A

stirring epic which refuses to compromise.

making it one of the best films about Scotland and the Scottish psyche ever made. General release.

Milais-Scott. 89 mins. London. 1892 and Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas visit a London brothel to witness a performance of the former"s banned play Salome. Absurd if mildly self - parodic farrago. allowing a talented cast to make fools of themselves in a bawdy costume melodrama of quite extraordinary carnpness. Otrr Ken is possibly the only film-maker around who would want to do this sort of thing. but he almost gets away with it. Glasgow: GI‘T.

I Seven Samurai (PG) (Akira Kurosawa. Japan. 1954) Toshiro Mifune. Takahashi Sirnura. 200 mins. A group of timid villagers seek protection against the excesses of a brutal warlord by hiring seven heroic samurai. Seminal Japanese action picture. with a slow-building dignity matching the best ofJohn Ford. and in its stylishly aesthetic handling of screen violence a profound inﬂuence on the likes of Sam Peckinpah. Ilighly recommended. Central: MacRobert.

I Shallow Grave (18) (Danny Boyle. UK. 1994) Keny Fox. Ewan McGregor. Christopher Eccleston. 90mins. Three Edinburgh flatmates find their new co-habitant dead with a stack of money under his bed. so after performing a little DlY on the corpse. they reckon all their worries are over. But the cops are closing in. there are two thugs after the money. and the psychological tension is beginning to show. Filled with dark humour and cynical one-liners. this Scottish thriller is bloody and intelligent enough to please the cult audience while remaining accessible enough to be a mainstream hit. Edinburgh: Cameo.

I The Sham Redemption (15) (Frank Darabont. US. 1994) Tim Robbins. Morgan Freeman. Bob Gunton. 143 mins. Banged tip for a crime he didn't commit (ain't they all?) quiet man Robbins plans a slow but effective revenge on the unnecessarily harsh prison regime. Freeman excels as the fellow con with an uncanny knack for procuring desired items. The film is certainly over'long. but the apocryphal feel to the storytelling and the period detail are well handled in what is. ultimately. a very fine movie indeed. Strathclyde: East Kilbride Arts Centre. Magnum.

I Star Trek Generations (PG) (David Carson. US. 1994) Patrick Stewart. William Shatner. Malcolm McDowell. l 17 mins. A contrived plot brings together Captains Picard and Kirk in order to save millions of lives at the hands of the demented McDowell. Forget the time warp toslr and cringing references to the joys of the family; enjoy instead the self—referential jokes of the seventh Trekkie movie which clearly shows that the Nari Generation crowd make for better sci-fr than the original pantomime team. And the effects are indeed spectacular. Glasgow: Odeon.Central: MacRobert.

I Stargate (PG) (Roland Emmerich. US. 1994) Kurt Russell. James Spader. Jaye Davidson. 122 mins. Was Earth visited centuries ago by aliens. Seems like it. particularly when Egyptologist Spader solves the key to a huge engraved circle found at the pyramids and unlocks a doorway to another planet. Along with a military team led by Russell. he encounters totalitarian space god Ra (Davidson) and reverses US foreign policy by helping the locals. Big budget science fiction with gleefully ridiculous story and brilliant effects. Edinburgh: Cameo.

I Stevenson College Siromel The annual exhibition of work by Audio Visual Technology students at Edinburgh's Stevenson College highlights the producers. editors. camera operators. vision mixers. DVE graphics technicians. audio-visual engineers and sound specialists of the future. Thurs 15 only. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.

I Streetﬂghter (12) (Steven E. De Souza. US. 1995) Jean-Claude Van Darnrne. Raul Julia. Kylie Minogue. 100 mins. When a renegade warlord takes a group of aid workers hostage. Colonel Guile (Van Damme) heads a sqaud of multi-ethnic heroes who storn a hi-tech fortress to free them. The fact that the film suffers from a stop-start plot. too many heroes and virtually no suspense is fairly unsurprising. given that it's a transfer to the big screen of a computer game. A noisy. brainless mess. General release.

I 2W1: A Space Odyssey (U) (Stanley Kubrick. US/UK. 1968) Keir Dullea. Gary Lockwood. 141 mins. Celebrated visionary epic about the history and future of the human race. superbly crafted and directed by Kubrick. It needs the big screen to do real justice to the famous sequences on the development of man and the landing of the mysterious monolith. One of the great classics of modern cinema. Edinburgh: Cameo. I Woodstock: The Director’s Cut (15) (Michael Wadleigh. US. 1970/94) 224 mins. Repackaged and remixed in spectral digital sound. with additional footage including Janis Joplin and Jefferson Airplane. with more Hendrix for your money. Some may wallow in remembrance. younger viewers may appreciate the revival; but for others. there will always be something significant about Jimi deconstructing ‘The Star- Spangled Banner' to an ever-depleting crowd. Strathclyde: Magnum.

FILM m

WEEK ONE Friday 2-Thursday 8

Readers are advised that programmes may be subject to late change at any time. [11] indicates that wheelchair access is available, though prior notilication is advisable. [E] indicates the availability of an induction loop for the convenience or hearing aid users. Film Listings compiled by Thom nibdin.